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You are here: Home / recipes / beans & grains / beans / slow cooker baked beans

09.27.11

slow cooker baked beans

$5.14 recipe / $0.57 serving

***Many readers have reported that their beans have not softened after over 8 hours of cooking. This
seems to only be a problem with this particular slow cooker/bean recipe so I suspect the sugar is the
issue. Not everyone is experiencing this problem, so proceed with caution!***

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HI! IM BETH
As a food lover and a
number cruncher I've
decided that cooking on a
budget shouldn't mean
canned beans and ramen
noodles night after night.
This is my web log of good
food cooked with little cash.
My stomach is full and my
wallet is too. Read More

So, you know how I love to cook beans in the slow cooker, right? Right. Well, this week I was craving
some good ol home cookin so I decided to whip up a batch of baked beans in my slow cooker. I
threw all of the ingredients into the slow cooker at night before I went to bed and in the morning, the
sweet and savory scent of baked beans was beckoning me out of dreamland.
FYI, baked beans are REALLY good for breakfast. ;)
Did I mention that you dont have to soak the beans? Yep, you just toss them in there dry.

Slow Cooker Baked Beans

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TOP RECIPES

slow cooker baked beans

Prep time

Cook time

Total time

10 mins

8 hours

8 hours 10 mins

Total Cost: $5.14

Cost Per Serving: $0.57
Serves: 9

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Ingredients
1 large yellow onion $0.87
6 oz. smoked bacon $1.49
1 lb. white beans (navy or great northern) $1.18
cup brown sugar $0.16
cup molasses $1.10
cup dijon mustard $0.24
generous cracked black pepper $0.05
4 cups water $0.00
to taste salt $0.05

Instructions
1. Dice the onion and slice the bacon into 1 inch pieces. Spread the beans out on a baking
sheet to sort through and remove stones or bad pieces. Transfer the beans to a colander and
rinse with cool water to remove dust and debris.
2. Place the diced onion on the bottom of the slow cooker, sprinkle the bacon pieces over top,
and then add the rinsed beans.
3. In a large bowl, stir together the brown sugar, molasses, dijon, and black pepper (do not add
salt yet). Once they are combined, stir in four cups of water. Pour this mixture over the beans
in the slow cooker. Secure the lid, turn the heat onto high, and cook for six hours or until
tender.
4. Give the beans a good stir, taste one to test the texture. Add salt to your liking. If youre
unsure, start with tsp of salt and stir it into the bean mixture well. Taste the beans and add
more (just a dash at a time) until it tastes right to you.

This recipe makes about as much as 3 (15 oz.) cans and they freeze well, so dont let any go to waste!

Step By Step Photos

The baked beans start with these three items. I chose great northern beans because I like a larger
bean. If you want smaller beans, you can use navy beans.

Dice the onion

Bacon usually comes in 12 oz. packages but I only used 6 for this recipe. Luckily, bacon freezes really
well so I saved the other half. Cut the portion that youre using into small pieces by slicing across the
strips.

Sort through the beans and remove any stones or bad pieces. Doing this on a baking sheet makes
them easy to see while keeping them contained. Transfer them to a colander and give them a good
rinse.

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Add the onion, bacon and beans to the slow cooker.

In a large bowl, stir together the molasses, brown sugar, dijon mustard, and cracked pepper.

Stir in four cups of water.

Pour that mixture over the beans in the slow cooker. It should be enough liquid to fully cover
everything. Secure the lid and turn the heat onto high. Cook for approximately 6 hours (if you need to
let it go a little longer, it will be okay).

After at least 6 hours, open it up, give everything a stir and test a bean for texture. If they are soft and
fully cooked, season with salt to taste.

Bacon-y, brown sugar & molasses goodness!

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48 Comments
Tina says:
04.21.15 at 10:00 am
Just a Tip I learned on Dr Oz
Microwave 3 cups of Water to 1 cup of Beans for 15 Min. Remove from Microwave let sit 15 to
20 Minutes Drain, then add to Crock Pot. I have an old slow cooker and encountered the
same issues, But not any More

Reply

Kath says:
04.18.15 at 10:24 am
Im wondering if the people who reported hard beans after 8 hours were using older slow
cookers. I have an old 4-quart one that doesnt get nearly as hot as my new 6-quart CrockPot.
I never had good luck cooking beans in my old one, but Ive had success with the new one.

Reply

Jan says:
12.25.14 at 11:33 am

Have any of you tried using smaller white beans? Im going to try that today or tomorrow.

Reply

Karen says:
07.19.14 at 5:21 am
Ive made these twice now for work potlucks with great success! Everyone asks for them now.
I cut the molasses and brown sugar in half and add some cayenne for a little kick. I also
subbed a meaty ham bone from the freezer for the bacon. In the morning I just pull out the
ham bone and pull o the meaty bits , stir them back in and discard the bones. Wicked good!

Reply

Kelly says:
05.06.14 at 8:35 am
So Easy!!! This is one of those recipes that has me wondering why people buy the canned
stu when this is so easy and so much more tasty! I remember when I was a kid my mom
making baked beans that were essentially doctored up pork and beans from a can. I will be
sharing this recipe.

Reply

Mellisa says:
03.31.14 at 10:10 am
Soak the beans over night: Place in a large pot and fill with water, about 2-3 inches above the
beans. In the morning, drain and rinse the beans.
There are some quick soak methods, but I usually soak my beans overnight. Pre-soaking will
make it so the beans are not hard.

Reply

Niyah says:
03.02.14 at 1:28 pm
For softening hard beans theres a couple of things to watch out for:
1) Try soaking your beans in salt water instead of plain tap. If your water is hard you could
actually be toughening your food instead of softening it. Or you could bypass this all together
by soaking in distilled/purified water.
2) If your beans are still hard after hours of cooking then the pH balance might be o. Like
Sara Kasari said adding some baking soda can quickly help your beans along. If the recipe
calls for something like vinegar or wine, consider waiting until your beans are soft before
adding it.

Now for this particular recipe the sugar and calcium from the molasses in combination with
possible hard tap could result in the crunchy results people are experiencing. So hopefully
these tips will help.

Reply

Beth M says:
01.23.13 at 10:40 am
Kathie Yep, that should work :)

Reply

Kathie Boselowitz says:

01.23.13 at 10:31 am
Can you add liquid smoke in place of the bacon for the vegetarian versions of my children?
Thanks,

Reply

Sara Kasari says:

01.11.13 at 5:22 pm
I, too, had the bean problem. I thought Id be start by soaking the beans overnight, but it
didnt help. After many, many hours of crockpot cooking, the beans were just not soft and I
thought Id have to start again but then decided to add some baking soda. Bam! It fizzed up
for a bit and then worked out perfectly. Couple hours later everything was soft and delicious.

Reply

seaward says:
12.31.12 at 12:40 pm
Ah! Yeah, that makes sense, durr. I just finished making them without a presoak & theyre not
runny at all! Thanks :)

Reply

Beth M says:
12.26.12 at 6:33 am
Seaward Hmm, its been such a long time since I made this. It sounds like the reason they
were runny is because the beans were presoaked. They probably soaked up quite a bit of
moisture while presoaking, so less of the liquid was soaked up during cooking. I think the only
way to make it less runny once theyre already cooked is to transfer it to the stove top and
simmer it until some of the water evaporates away.

Reply

Kristine says:
07.10.15 at 3:06 pm
Instead of doing the simmering can I just put less water to begin with if Im pre-soaking the
beans? Unfortunately I need this for a 2pm party so that means Im already starting them at
8am, Im worried I wont have time to work the stove etc when Im working on a bunch of
other things. Thoughts? 2 or maybe 3 cups of water instead of 4?

Reply
Beth M says:
07.12.15 at 7:01 am
Im sorry if this didnt get to you in time. I think I would try 3 cups, but I havent tested the
recipe with pre-soaked beans, so unfortunately I cant say for sure. :(

Reply

seaward says:
12.25.12 at 9:47 pm
These came out really well, but they were really runny.
I did soak the beans overnight, then used 2tsp of liquid smoke instead of bacon. They were
pretty much done at 6 and a half hours, but sososo runny. I took out a cup of the beans,
mashed them, and stuck them back in. Then I cooked for another hour and a half with the lid
o.
That helped a little bit, but they were still so runny! Was it because I didnt use bacon? Is there
another way to thicken it?
Theyre still crazy delicious, and Im gonna make another batch tomorrow. Just curious if
theres anything else I can do.

Reply

Sarah says:
10.13.12 at 1:57 pm
These were wonderful! I didnt have any problem with the beans getting done but they did
take the full 8 hours. I used turkey bacon and didnt need to use so much. Am making again
today and will just add 1 slice for flavor. Thanks so much for this recipe!

Reply

Mom says:
10.13.12 at 12:41 pm
This comment has been removed by the author.

Reply

raycosm says:
08.18.12 at 12:43 pm
I just bought a 3qt slow cooker and this is the first recipe I tried. I just finished throwing
everything in and suddenly ran into the problem of my slow cooker being too small by a LOT.
So a word of warning to anyone about to try this: if you have a 3qt slow cooker, CUT
EVERYTHING IN HALF!

Reply

Anonymous says:
07.04.12 at 10:22 am
I made these for a BBQ about a month ago and I have to say the house smelled so awesome I
had to try them! (I do not like beans) I loved them! I had no leftovers! My husband requested
these again today for a BBQ we are having. I cant wait to smell that amazing smell. Yummy!!
Thanks for the recipe!!

Reply

L'orraine says:
07.01.12 at 11:04 am
Bean softening issue. Problem would be the dijon mustard if its prepared with vinegar.
(Some are, some arent.) I learned the hard way that using any acids with beans/lentils cause
them to stay very firm (any vinegar would have to be added after cooking, as in making a
salad with beans). My traditional BB recipes always relied on mustard powder (for this reason,
Id guess).

Reply

Alison says:
03.22.12 at 7:54 am
if you have hard water it will take a lot longer to cook the beans add some baking soda to
the water and you wont have any trouble but Im pretty sure that beans have to be boiled,
to kill that fungus thing?

Reply

Anonymous says:
03.05.12 at 9:45 pm
Instead of soaking the beans I put them in a little bit of water and bring to a boil on the stove
top for 20 minutes. Then drain the water o and put in the crockpot. That cured the crunchy
bean problem. It is a lot less time than soaking them.

Reply

Beth M says:
03.05.12 at 5:37 pm

Michelle (and others) I think the issue might be with the sugar and perhaps the minerals in
the water in your particular area. I put a warning at the top of the post to let people know
ahead of time. I hate that so many people have had ruined beans!

Reply

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